AI Business

AI and Personalisation in the Retail Sector: Delivering Value Without Alienating the Customer

Artificial intelligence in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) is already proving powerful. Brands can deliver tailored offers, anticipate needs, and connect with customers at the times that matter. Yet, as FMCG businesses look to harness AI for personalisation, there is a fine line to tread: how do you offer meaningful relevance without making customers feel surveilled or manipulated? Scott Snell, Non-Executive Director at CI Group, shares his expertise below.  

 

What Do Consumers Actually Want? 

In the age of AI, this is an increasingly important question for brands to ask themselves. 2025 research from SAP Emarsys and Deloitte makes the situation clear: while 80% of marketers say AI is critical for winning and retaining customers in FMCG, fewer than one in ten customers actively want more AI-led brand interactions. Instead, 40% want better personalisation, but they want it to remain behind the scenes.  

As a consumer, this is a sentiment that resonates with me. And as someone with over two decades as a commercial leader in MFCG marketing – it is one which makes logical sense. The best personalisation, in my eyes, is almost invisible – when a brand ‘just gets you’ without pushing the technical wizardry front and centre. 

This does not mean doing less with data and technology. It means taking a subtle approach. People enjoy relevant offers, reminders for repeat purchases, or bundles matched to their habits, but recoil when they sense they’re being tracked or when automation feels robotic.  

 

‘Invisible’ Personalisation in Practice 

Today’s best FMCG brands use AI to quietly enhance customer experience. Tesco’s Clubcard programme, for example, deploys AI to nudge healthier shopping choices and predict customer needs, while Mars has run campaigns that surface personal stories at scale using generative AI – putting the customer at the heart of the story, not the algorithm. 

 

Effective invisible personalisation relies on several principles: 

• Relevance, not intrusion: Personal touches, like reminders or curated rewards, are based on real preferences, not on assumptions or data scraping.  

• Consistency across touchpoints: AI integrates learning from in-store and online behaviour to offer continuity, but always aims to feel natural. For example, loyalty rewards on mobile apps reflect shopping patterns without bombarding customers with irrelevant notifications.  

• Human tone: Even when automation drives communications, the language remains warm, conversational and distinctly human.  

 

The Privacy Imperative 

Personalisation means little if it comes at the expense of trust. As privacy regulations tighten and consumers grow more conscious of their data, brands need to embrace transparency. The industry is moving away from opaque ‘black box’ models to explainable AI – systems where the logic and decision criteria can be understood and audited.  

The trend towards first-party data is just as pronounced. With third-party cookies on the wane, building a permission-based relationship, where customers willingly share information in return for tangible benefits, is the cornerstone for long term loyalty and compliance with UK privacy law.  

 

Practical Takeaways for FMCG Leaders 

• Let AI do the heavylifting quietly. Use it to power behind-the-scenes decisions, not to orchestrate flashy, ‘look at me’ interactions.  

• Design for trust. Make privacy controls easy to use, communicate how data is used, and give customers the option to opt in or out of personalisation features.  

• Stay human. Test communications for tone and clarity. If it feels ‘off’, pause and recalibrate.  

 

AI will keep transforming FMCG, but success means the technology itself should fade into the background, leaving the customer feeling understood, valued, and never unnerved.  

 

Let’s Talk –marketing@cigroup.co.uk